180 Squadron Tactical Air Force WWII Veteran
38 missions over Europe as an Air Gunner.
Rebecca Field: James V. Coburn was my grandfather. A veteran of WWII, father of 7, grandfather of 20, and great grandfather of 16. He lived a long and full life after the war passing in his 98th year.
He joined the Royal Canadian Air Force when he was eighteen years old. He flew thirty-eight missions overseas as a mid-upper gunner on Mitchell Bombers during World War II. When he came home he started his career and worked for forty-five years as an engineer for the Canadian Pacific Railway. He didn’t speak much about the war until his later years. Encouraged by his children, he started speaking about his service at elementary school Remembrance Day ceremonies, and later as part of the Memory Project. I was lucky to be able to listen, and learn from, his experiences first hand. I will always be grateful for his willingness to open up about this traumatic experience in his later years so that future generations could learn from his past. While it could not have been easy, he came to realize that it was necessary to speak about the tragedies of WWII so that history does not repeat itself. God bless you Papa – we are forever grateful for the sacrifices you made for Canada.